Connections
by onnadhiel
Summary: The media called him the Merchant of Death, a playboy, billionaire, the Da Vinci of our Time, philanthropist, genius. (Egocentric, narcissistic, nothing without the suit, the Avengers, SHIELD called him.) No one ever considered that Tony could be a mutant. ** Charles Xavier enlists the Avengers to help in a mission, and becomes harder than ever to hide his secret.
1. Bad Blood

**_A/N: This is also on AO3 under my username WhovianPhanlockian, but I've transferred it here. This is adopted from Cheerfully Cynical's_** **Mutant DNA Misplacement** ** _(with permission), but I've changed it more as the story goes on. I'll try to update this fortnightly at least if I can. Please read and enjoy and leave a comment if you can :)_**

 _Anthony Stark was fourteen years old when he discovered he was a mutant._

* * *

 _Tony glanced at his watch, noting the time down on the corner of the page of notes balancing precariously on the edge of his desk. Five hours and forty three minutes after staring at his blueprints and deciding to work on a robot, the project was nearly finished. One more video cable, and his hours of wires and circuits would be finished. He closed his eyes tight, clutching the tweezers in his hand._

 _This would be the one to work and make his father proud, he knew it. It had to be._

 _As he started forward to place the wire, he was stopped. A blast of pain surged behind his eyes, his head on fire. He could feel his lungs burning as he struggled for breath._

 _And then, it was gone._

 _The pain disappeared, almost as quick as it came._

 _"Breathe," Tony whispered to himself softly, "It was nothing, a headache, that's all." He took a breath, trying to ignore the pulsing in his ears. He waited another minute to calm himself down enough to open his eyes, and he couldn't help but gasp as he looked back at his room._

 _The robot was alive._

 _And the wire that had been held in the tweezers was placed perfectly in position, lighting up the robot's LCD eyes._

 _He must have moved it. But how? The tweezers were still held in his hand, indenting his palm, and he'd locked the door to avoid interruptions earlier. No one else could have done it, and it had to have happened while he'd been in pain._

 _He couldn't have…?_

 _"Oh, god." Tony whispered. He stumbled to the window, suddenly feeling sick as he realised the implications of what he'd done._

 _He couldn't be. Not him, no. Definitely not. He could not have moved it with his mind. Tony Stark could not be a mutant. But how else could it have happened?_

 _He had read about some of his father's encounters with the strange people - mind readers, shapeshifters, telekinetics, healers, even people who could fly. The science behind their powers was incredible. When he was younger, he'd thought Captain America must have been a mutant. (Though his father hadn't hesitated to strictly correct him, 'warning' him that he shouldn't try and talk about things he didn't understand.)_

 _But his father thought mutants were disgusting. (Which seemed to explain his furious reaction to Tony's suggestion that Steve Rogers, his 'greatest creation', was one.) He seemed to think that either everyone should have powers, or no one should at all. He thought they should be killed._

 _God. What would his father say? How would he react to this?_

 _He struck out at the robot, kicking it to the floor and crushing the metal shell, letting the circuits spark as they were ripped apart._

 _If there wasn't any proof, it couldn't have happened._

 _Nothing happened._

* * *

 _The next time it happened was a year later._

* * *

 _Tony watched his father silently as he shifted from each of his projects in turn. He seemed completely focused on the devices littering the room, moving with an unusual grace that didn't seem to fit him and oblivious to the boy standing at one of the desks. It was strange to see him so engrossed in his work._

 _He started towards another table, and Tony hesitated. He'd been planning to sneak some plans in with the rest of the blueprints, a new A.I., since it was the best way to get the time or materials without having to talk to his father. But he couldn't risk disturbing him now, not when he was so invested in this project. He could try again later._

 _As he began to leave the room, his foot caught on the table, and he couldn't help but watch as, almost in slow motion, one of the tools began to fall onto the floor. He braced himself for its crash to the ground._

 _It stopped, hovering an inch from the ground._

 _Tony took a short breath to stop himself from gasping. This was happening less than ten feet away from his father. He couldn't let him see this._

 _He turned and ran, almost tripping over his own feet._

 _Only when he had left the room did he notice the headache he had. But like before, it disappeared only a moment later. Another second later, and he could hear his father angrily swearing inside._

* * *

 _He couldn't just wish away his… abnormality. Or get rid of it. He tried everything, he did so many tests and tried so many formulas and nothing seemed to work. Any time he was upset, or excited, or scared, any time he had a strike of adrenaline, something would happen. And the worst thing was, he couldn't control it. That was what he hated the most about it all._

 _Only after two months of research did he find somewhere he could finally be safe. Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters._

 ** _A/N: And that's chapter one. Chapter two should be up in the next fortnight, so hit follow if you wanna know when. See you around, and please comment if you enjoyed :)_**


	2. This Is How I Disappear

It took three taxi rides, two trains and four separate bribes for Tony to get to the school. He had to be sure that no one - including his parents - could track him, and it was difficult enough to get through the city without anyone recognising him. Eventually, he ended up doubling back to stop anyone following him.

He needed this help to be able to control his powers. He didn't know what he'd do otherwise.

The size of the mansion when he arrived took Tony by surprise. It was larger than he'd expected. He had seriously underestimated how rich Xavier must have been, if he could afford a place like this. Swallowing his fear, he walked up the stairs to the doors, only to have them be opened as he approached by a small brunette.

"The Professor's been expecting you." She stood to the side to let him enter, but he stood still and gave her a questioning look as she smiled at him.

"What?"

"Professor Xavier. He's expecting you," the girl repeated, "He's known about you for ages." She smiled at him again, and Tony couldn't help but think that this was a bad idea. "No, sorry. That probably wasn't the best way to start. Sorry for scaring you."

"Miss Ramon, I think it's best that we just get our guest inside, don't you think?" A voice spoke the girl, Ramon, and she moved aside to reveal Xavier himself in a wheelchair. "Mr. Stark, I was wondering when you would arrive. Charles Xavier." He held out his hand, and Tony took it.

"Tony. Call me Tony. Mr Stark is my father. Nice to meet you." Xavier gave him a curious look for a second, then nodded.

"Tony it is, then. Come inside, I'm sure we have a lot to discuss." He turned back into the hallway, and Tony hesitated a moment before following, noting that the house looked even more impressive from the inside, and watched as two children ran past him quickly. How many people were here? Were they all… Like him?

"I believe the word you are looking for is mutant." Tony jumped at the sudden noise. Had he spoken aloud? "No. You didn't." _I'm a telepath. You were projecting your thoughts._ He nodded at the voice ringing in his head, suddenly feeling curious. "I can communicate with my mind, and see other people's thoughts. Francesca Ramon, the girl at the door, is an empath, and so she could feel what you did when you met her. The question is, though," He paused. "What are your powers?"

Xavier stopped suddenly, pushing open a door and holding out a hand to direct Tony through. The office it led to was simple and bare, compared to the rest of the building. "Have a seat." He motioned to an armchair in front of his desk, and as he sat down, he couldn't help but ask a question that had been burning in his mind.

"Is there something wrong with me?"

There was a silence for a moment. "The same thing that's wrong with any of us, if you see it that way. But your powers aren't anything to be afraid of." Tony let out a breath he hadn't realised he'd been holding. "So, Tony, would you mind telling me about yourself?"

* * *

And that was how it began. Every week from then on, he'd talk to Xavier or one of the others so he could start controlling his powers, and he'd occasionally spend a week or two at the school when he had the chance. And then Jean Grey arrived a year later, with powers similar to him, and her boyfriend, Scott, a few weeks after her. Once he'd got around to talking to them they didn't seem too bad, they became friends, and then… all hell broke loose.

* * *

"Okay, so I had an idea for a prank on Janine." Scott started, glasses flickering in the light. Tony laughed softly. He was certain Jean and Scott were insane.

He loved them anyway.

Jean sighed, almost on cue, and Tony smiled at her rolled eyes. "You're going to get us into so much trouble, you know that right?" She leaned against the wall of the corridor, looking at Scott disapprovingly, but Tony could tell she was hiding a smile. She seemed to enjoy this stuff more than the rest of them.

"I'm pretty sure it's the other way around." Jean shrugged. "Seriously, you get into even more trouble than him when I'm not here. You two are setting _such_ a bad example."

The couple looked at each other, then said in unison, "But if we're not making trouble, there isn't any fun!" He shook his head at them, as Scott continued. "Seriously, I think we can get away with this one. It's reall-"

"Tony?" Francesca interrupted, entering the corridor. "You've got a call from someone called… Rhodey? He said you'd know who it was."

He nodded, following her into the next room and picking up the phone. "Honeybear, how are you?"

"Tony? I… God…" He could hear shallow breaths through the phone.

"Rhodey, what's wrong?" Jean and Scott looked at him questioningly, but he held up a finger to silence them. "Take a breath, okay?"

Tony listened to the voices in the background until Rhodey began speaking again. "Look, Tony, you need to go look at the news, right now."

"Why? What's going on?" He turned back to the two behind him. "Jean, would you mind putting the news on in the living room?" She nodded, leaving with Scott, and Tony heard her shouting for the others to move out her way.

"Tony, just, uh… Try not to panic. You'll be okay. You just need-"

"TONY!" Jean's alarmed yell cut him off. What the hell was going on?

"I'll call you back." He put the phone down, pushing through the kids in front of the TV, barely noticing the ones staring worriedly at him.

 _"-of Howard and Maria Stark. It is unknown whether any others were in the car at the time, but both Howard and Maria Stark were killed in the accident. According to Stark's butler, he was heading towards New York City, possibly on the way to see his son at school there, and-"_

Tony froze.

He didn't notice the tear rolling down his cheek, or the quietly whispered _no_ that escaped his mouth. He didn't notice himself slipping to the floor, eyes glued to the image of the destroyed car on screen. He didn't notice Scott and Jean kneeling down next to him and wrapping an arm around him, whispering words of comfort he couldn't understand.

His mom was _dead_.

* * *

The next day, Xavier had explained what was happening outside the mansion. People were looking for him, for the son of the _great Howard Stark_ to return to the public. He didn't have much choice but to leave.

But then there was the funeral.

He'd tried, and managed, to live up to the public's expectations, spouting a few lies about his father and forcing out a few tears, listing a few traits Jarvis had shown and hoping for the best that it would be good enough for them. He hadn't cared. He'd returned to the mansion for a few days before leaving for good, staying in his room with Jean and Scott and trying to avoid the press, their questions bringing back painful memories he wanted to forget.

Then he left, taking over Stark Industries at twenty one, with Obadiah pushing him to follow his father's footsteps, to design better weapons and keep up SI - the ' _Stark Legacy_ ' - now that Howard Stark couldn't. It was a weapons company. Tony had barely listened to him, creating enough of them to keep the man off of his back, instead creating more defensive than offensive. Stane glared when he didn't get the new missiles he wanted on time, but the military were happy enough getting less weapons when their communications improved, and their soldiers had better body armour.

But he couldn't forget Scott, Jean, Xavier, his other life. Tony couldn't risk visiting, not after returning so soon to the public, but he managed to make sure tech was sent to the mansion every few weeks to try and help them along in his absence, much to the delight of some of the kids - the first month he'd sent a full set of phones and laptops after he'd heard of them struggling with the ancient tech they had there, the next time a new visor for Scott, a chair for Xavier, extra funds appearing in bank accounts to help the kids along.

It was something he could do, at least.


	3. I'm Not Okay

_**A/N: Thank you to everyone who's subscribed or favourited, and THANK YOU SO MUCH to FanGirlForever19 and Wolfy76398 for reviewing, it made my day! Hope you all enjoy the chapter :)**_

* * *

Once Tony had taken over Stark Industries, he'd had no choice but to conceal his powers. There were a number of unspoken rules throughout the company that you discovered once you became an employee, some of them _extremely_ anti-mutant, and Howard's views seemed to have rubbed off on a lot of the staff there. He couldn't risk letting them find out that the man running the business was one of the people they despised.

And then, it all went wrong.

If anyone were to ask him what had happened during the three months he disappeared, he wasn't sure whether he'd be able to tell them. Too much of it he'd left blacked-out in the back of his mind, and the rest seemed too warped to be reality.

What he _could_ remember was the group of soldiers _(too young, they were far too young)_ , about to take a photo, and then running to their deaths, bullets shredding the Jeep they'd been in only moments before. A bomb with his name on it, blood coating him, waking up in front of a camera with terrorists shouting words in too many unknown languages to understand. The weight of metal in his chest supposedly _saving his life,_ but feeling like it was killing him, his powers unreachable, the pain taking over his mind instead.

A mental cry for help the first week, lost hope the second when he could no longer see the point - he was in the middle of the mountains in Afghanistan, and there was no way Xavier could find him there.

And then, the Iron Man suit, the loss of Yinsen, the backlash from shutting down the weapons manufactory in SI. There was something that triggered it, he didn't know what, but it suddenly became so much more difficult to control his powers, to hide them, and he knew it wasn't long until someone would find out.

Pepper was the first. It was pure accident, and Tony hadn't wanted her to find out so soon, but there was nothing he could have done.

It wasn't long after the two of them got together. He'd been having a nightmare, he knew that much - he was definitely asleep when it all happened. It was one of the more… extreme nightmares, where he'd watched Yinsen die (again, and it had been for nothing because _he hadn't escaped)._ And somehow, he'd woken Pepper up, she'd seen furniture levitating around the room, because _of fucking course_ the nightmare would trigger his powers.

When she'd got over the initial shock, she'd woken him up, and he'd seen what he was doing, stopping it only moments later. Tony had left the room almost immediately afterwards, not wanting to see her face.

(Seventy-six hours without sleep passed in the workshop before he unmuted Jarvis and he let her in.)

And fuck, had that conversation been hell. She had been annoyed, and he didn't blame her, for him keeping his powers a secret. Tony had shown her _just how many_ of Stark Industries' employees had anti-mutant views, and she'd begun to understand why he hadn't told anyone, but even so - he'd known Pepper long enough to realise she hadn't shared their opinions.

He told her about Xavier, about the school, about his powers, shown her just how much he could do with them, and after that… it got better. She helped him make the company more mutant friendly, both for the employees and in their products, and eventually came with him to visit the mansion. Seeing the kids there just seemed to make her even more determined to help him (some of them _were_ adorable, he had to admit).

They got through it together, that was what mattered.

* * *

After Pepper found out about his powers, he became much less careful about showing them, and he ended up using them almost constantly while he was working in the lab. His eidetic memory meant he could practically see the room around him, and so he barely had to look up when using his powers to move parts, tools and materials to him. It took next to no concentration, and relaxed him, and since no one except Pepper and Rhodey had access to the lab on a normal day, he didn't have a reason to worry about his 'secret' getting out.

 _He'd_ thought so, at least.

Some point soon after the Chitauri invasion, after rebuilding the tower, the suit had been damaged in a fight. Tony had been asked by Xavier to help deal with some mutants, since they needed more people in the air fighting and there weren't many trained people he could call on. But then, lucky him, bloody Magneto showed up and he ended up taking most of the hits from him. Because Metal Suit plus Metal Manipulator always equals disaster, and _fuck you Magneto_ (kept him away from the others long enough, though, and he survived - so another point to the good guys. Yay.).

Which was how Tony ended up in his workshop for a solid two days studying the energy patterns he'd found residing on the armour from Magneto's abilities and attempting to fix the damaged armour. Midway through repairing one of the gauntlets he held his hand out for a tool he knew was in a box on the other side of the room, pulling it towards him.

It didn't arrive.

That was strange.

He turned, looking around the room for it and _oh, shit._

"That's certainly not something in your file." Fury flipped the screwdriver he was holding in the air, before holding it out to him. He hesitated, studying the director's face carefully before taking it off him. "You're a mutant. A telekinetic, is it?"

Tony sighed. "Great observational skills." Fury quirked an eyebrow.

"And you managed to keep it hidden for… how long, exactly?"

"Since I was fourteen." He glared. "Now, why are you here, exactly? In my workshop?"

"I needed to talk to you." Tony started to interrupt, and he continued. " _Without_ you coming up with an excuse avoid the meeting. Found another good reason to be here, now, anyway. Who else knows?"

"Pepper, Rhodey, Xavier, the mutants at the school. You now, and… You don't think you can keep this under wraps for the time being? Out of SHIELD's files?"

"I might be able to do that for you."

Tony narrowed his eyes at him slightly when he saw Fury's small smirk. "Okay. What is it you want? You wouldn't offer without getting something out of it."

Fury looked at him, almost as if to say _of course, what did you expect?_ "I need you to house the other Avengers, keep them away from the press. They're being attacked by the media since the invasion, and it's putting the SHIELD base they're staying at at risk."

He cocked his head to the side slightly, slightly confused, before nodding. "I told you that you needed better security. I did offer, you remember?" He paused, mentally planning what he'd need to do to sort out the new living arrangements, before continuing. "Sure. I'll have the tower ready in a few days. Have the team pack their things, bring them along by the end of the week."

Fury nodded, his face back to its usual passive expression, and turned to the door. As he left, Tony was sure he heard him mutter under his breath, "I'm becoming too generous when it comes to you, Stark."

* * *

 _ **A/N: Please fave or subscribe or leave a review, even if it's only a few words long. I love hearing from y'all. xx  
**_


	4. The First Punch

_**A/N: Guess who passed their Russian and Latin exams :) :) :) C'est moi! Anyways. Enjoy!**_

* * *

Tony collapsed on the sofa in the common room, and glared at the world outside the window of Avengers Tower. Steve, after Tony had been so kind as to let him in the lab when he claimed there was an _urgent matter_ , had forced him out the workshop with the excuse that 'he wasn't taking care of himself'. _(There's a bed in the lab, he has food, he was absolutely friggin' perfect, thank-you-very-much.)_ Bruce, unfortunately, had agreed with him, not yet seeing the inside of his workshop, and had asked JARVIS to alert him if he re-entered them (not that he would, since he didn't have an override code yet, but he wasn't risking the Hulk coming out over something so simple - the floors had just been redone).

" _Sir, you have an incoming call from Director Fury."_

"I _just_ sat down." He momentarily considered just ignoring the call, before sighing. "Whatever, just answer it. I've got nothing better to do." He put an earpiece in, knowing not to trust the silence in the room.

"We've got a new mission, I need to know if you're up to it."

Tony held back his confusion. "Why?"

"We've been asked to assist the X-Men." He paused for a moment. "I just need to know if you'll be able to work with them _and_ the team at the same time, since they are… old friends of yours."

Tony smiled slightly at that. He hadn't seen the X-Men since before the Avengers had joined him in the tower - he'd spent so long trying to make sure everything was in place for them, he'd forgot almost everything else. This could be his chance to work out if he could tell them… Well, everything. He still didn't know if he could trust them, what their opinions were of mutants.

"Fuck it. I'll do it."

* * *

The Avengers were called into SHIELD a few hours later, and were almost immediately led to a meeting room away from the rest. He had (for once) arrived an hour or two earlier from the rest of the team, trying to find out what _the hell_ was so important that the Avengers were called in to help.

Tony sat silently as Fury explained the mission to the others, tapping on the reactor absent-mindedly, only half listening as he told the team about Magneto. Apparently, from what he'd found from the files, he'd got the shapeshifter Mystique into some high-up politicians position, someone who had access to one of the meetings concerning mutants. And from what Xavier could find out, they were planning a large-scale attack on… well, humanity as a whole. How _convenient_ that the Avengers were formed now and could help.

Well, he was screwed.

He glanced at the faces of the Avengers. It was impossible to think they really _were_ a team. They hardly knew each other, even after staying together in the tower. How were they supposed to work together on something like this? Hell, what even were their opinions on mutants anyway? God, two spies, a supersoldier, and scientists, how would they agree on something as controversial as _mutants?_

"Stark! You listening?" Fury interrupted suddenly.

Tony smirked, mask falling back into place easily. "I got it. X-Men, evil magnetic dude, humanity about to be destroyed. Easy." He felt a small sense of triumph as he saw Rogers biting back a retort, and choosing to instead roll his eyes.

Fury ignored him. "Be in the hangar in twenty, the X-Men will be arriving soon." He nodded in dismissal, and Tony gave him a sarcastic salute as he stood up to leave.

God, he wasn't prepared for this.

* * *

He stood slightly apart from the others as he waited, wanting to stay slightly separate from both parties. The X-Men were due to arrive in the Blackbird within the next few minutes, and he couldn't help but feel slightly worried as he saw the grim faces of the other Avengers. God, this could be the time they found out about _everything._

He suddenly felt the Blackbird approaching from in the distance, and he smiled slightly as it drew closer and landed.

The plane opened, and he gave a small nod to Xavier, who was first to exit, followed by Jean and Scott, their hands joined.

"Glad to see you had a safe journey, Professor." Fury held out a hand to the Professor.

"Nice to see you too, Nicholas." Tony had to stop himself from smirking at their greeting. He was sure Xavier was the _only_ person to ever call Fury that, and it was _so_ rare to hear him in civil conversation. Natasha gave him a cold glare for a moment, making sure he was the only one who noticed, seemingly able to guess what he was thinking.

Xavier glanced at the Avengers. "I think introductions are in order?"

Fury nodded, and gestured to each of them I in turn. "Steve Rogers, Natasha Romanoff, Bruce Banner, Tony Stark and Clint Barton. Thor will be joining you later on."

"A pleasure," Xavier said simply, "Scott Summers, Ororo Munroe, Jean Grey, Bobby Drake, Logan and Rogue." Both sides nodded politely, and Tony almost immediately moved to talk to Xavier as the others introduced themselves properly. "It's good to see you again, Tony."

He couldn't help but smile warmly. "It's been too long."

Clint gave him a slightly curious look. "You know these guys?"

"We've met a few times," he answered simply, "Howard thought Capsicle here might have had a form of the X-Gene, which would have explained how well he reacted to the serum." Bruce started to interrupt, so he quickly continued. "He was wrong, obviously. He didn't, the gene can't just disappear, and nobody could have done anything about it if he _did_ have it. It was just a theory he had."

"So none of the experiments people have been working on would have had an effect?"

"None that I've seen." Tony turned to Clint after a second. "Why are you interested?"

"I saw a talk show discussing whether we are mutants, since we show so many similarities. Did some research into them after that." He shrugged nonchalantly.

Bobby scoffed. "Yet _you're_ not hounded by the government because of your abilities. And you're not being forced into registration and testing either."

Tony glanced at Xavier and Fury, as if to say _You should have known this would happen._

"Bobby," Xavier began, but Steve interrupted.

"I mean, the kid's got a good point. I don't know much about this whole mutant thing, but it doesn't seem as if you're that different to us. It isn't fair for you to have to go through all that."

Bobby smiled slightly at him, seeming slightly calmed by his words.

"I don't see what's wrong with mutants being monitored." The room turned to stare at Natasha, who shrugged dismissively. "A lot of you still can't control your abilities, or don't use them right, it's no wonder people want to keep tabs on you. And even now Magneto is trying to destroy humanity because of some people's views."

"That doesn't mean we all have to be hunted like animals!" Rogue yelled, her face flushed an angry shade of red. Logan moved slightly closer towards her, glaring at Natasha.

"That's enough," Bruce said quietly. There was a hint of green in his eyes, and he noticed Natasha and Fury move their hands instinctively to the Icers at their side.

"We came here for help," Ororo reminded them calmly, "Not for an argument." Her eyes flicked to Tony as he forced himself to take a breath. God, he couldn't lose it here, not with all the Avengers around.

"Stop!" He stepped between the two teams. "Let's not do this now, alright? Look, let's split off, have a talk with our teams, maybe come back together when we've all cooled off, and discuss the mission later."

Scott glared again at the Avengers. "Not likely. We've been here ten minutes and _she_ already wants us dead."

Apparently the stress was too much for Jean (which was unusual - it was always her who stayed calm and in control when they were younger, while he was the opposite). A surge of power pushed against them all, sending most of them to the floor.

Tony and Jean were left standing.

He hadn't meant to let it happen, he was sure, but obviously his ability had blocked the surge.

"Everyone okay?" Steve asked. A couple of people nodded, but the room stayed silent.

Tony was surprised. When they were younger, Jean wouldn't even struggle to knock him down with her powers - So when had it become possible for him to block them? How would he explain _that?_

"Stark?"

"Yeah… I'm fine."

He turned back to Jean, and even from there he could see her hands trembling and her nails digging into her palms, drawing small specks of blood. He started towards her, but Scott saw where he was looking and pushed himself off the floor, and took her hand leading her back to the Blackbird. Scott sent him a grateful look, and he stopped himself from following after the two.

The others got up one by one, the X-Men turning back to the plane, while the Avengers stormed from the room. And all Tony could feel was that he was standing between two teams of people, and he had no idea on which one he belonged.

As he walked out the room into the suit he called, he could finally feel Xavier's eyes stop following him.

* * *

 _ **A/N: Hope you liked this chapter. I wasn't overly happy with it, but whatever. Please comment or favourite (I almost put kudos, oops. This isn't AO3)**_


	5. The World is Ugly

The room was silent when he entered. It was unnerving after the argument, after the sound of the wind when he took the suit out in the sky.

A box lay on the bed with his name on, unopened, and he hesitated to look inside.

Then he saw the note.

 _In case you ever want it. -Charles_

It was an X-Men uniform.

Tony knew what it meant. When the uniforms came from the Professor, they were always a welcome back of sorts after a long time away. Since he'd let the Avengers into the Tower, they'd taken up all his time, and he'd had no chance to visit since New York, finding it hard to keep Xavier and the others in his life without raising suspicions. He'd chosen his superhero life over his _family._ But now… Now he had a choice. He didn't have to stay with the Avengers - he had no reason to. Sure, maybe he was getting closer to Bruce, but really, when it came down to it? The Avengers weren't ever really a team, there will still major problems between them all, and, for the most part, they still disliked him.

Maybe it _would_ be easier to leave and go back with Xavier, back to his family.

It was hard. There was still his life as Iron Man to think of, and what would happen to the other Avengers if he did leave. Outside of missions, they didn't need him, but even so… People would be looking for Iron Man, even if they didn't want him there. It might make things less complicated if he stayed, but if he went back….

He'd be returning home, back to where he really belonged.

* * *

The Avengers were content to sit as far away from the X-Men as they possibly could. The X-Men seemed to agree completely with that plan. Tony, on the other hand, was refusing to take sides with either team, and made sure that he was sat between Clint and Ororo.

The Avengers, after seeing how open he was with the X-Men, seemed not to completely trust him. He'd noticed all the confused and curious looks they gave him as while he sat waiting for Fury, and even after he'd given an indication that he'd noticed them, they hadn't stopped. Obviously they'd expected the son of Howard Stark to share his father's views, rather than being perfectly happy co-operating with mutants, seeing as Howard's opinions were common knowledge.

Fury entered the room moments later. "Look, Avengers, we don't have time for whatever crap you had in the past." He glared pointedly at Natasha, "And we don't have time to argue over who gets fairer treatment in the world. It's pointless, and you're wasting time. We're helping the X-Men, defeating Magneto and his team, and _then_ you can all go yell at each other."

"Thank you, Director," Xavier took over smoothly, "For those of you who haven't read through the file yet, we need to get to Mystique, the shapeshifter who joined Magneto." He grimaced slightly, and Tony knew it was a sore topic. "She's eager to help him in any way he can, especially in keeping the Sentinel project continuing."

The X-Men shared a dark look at the name, which didn't go unnoticed by the Avengers.

"And this Sentinel project is _what,_ exactly?" Clint asked after a second of silence.

"A bunch of robots, which can adapt to any situation, sent to kill mutants." Logan said.

"The project was scrapped years ago," Xavier continued, "But Mystique's managed to convince them to open it up again so they can modify it."

Tony leaned forward in his chair. "So they've changed it from targeting all mutants, to targeting humans instead," he started simply. It would be easy enough to take them all down without having to fight them. He'd still have to get to one of them, but after that, if he hooked it up to a computer and looked at their programming, he could probably shut the rest down easily. Assuming they were all remotely connected, which was likely, considering how they were planning to make them adapt to all situations. He could send one well-timed command, and they'd all go down at once.

"Stark? You got a way of shutting these things off?" Steve asked him.

He nodded. "We'd still need at least one of them before I could do anything, and it'd need to be intact still." He turned to Xavier. "Are these things operational yet?"

"They will be, some are still being produced, some ready now. None of them are online yet, if that's what you were thinking of. Trask, the man behind the original project, didn't have much government support, so kept the plans for them under lock and key. We've tried accessing the originals, but we've had no luck with that either, so it's hard to know what we're up against this time."

"And you don't have any leads on where these things are being produced?"

Xavier shook his head in reply. "Magneto knows how to stop me accessing his mind to work that out."

"So it'll be awhile before we get any leads." Steve sighed slightly.

Fury stood up from his chair. "And that's why you'll be staying with the X-Men at Xavier's mansion for the next few weeks, while we work to get some."

There was silence for a moment as his words sunk in.

"No way in hell." Natasha glared murderously at Fury, but he didn't flinch.

Clint put a hand on her arm, speaking softly in an attempt to calm her. "Tasha, come on. It's only for a couple of weeks."

"No, I agree with _her."_ Scott said, voice starting to raise slightly as he looked directly at Natasha, then to Xavier. "Who says we want all these guys knowing where we live?"

"Didn't we _just_ say we needed to put aside our differences for the time being?" Ororo calmly asked. "Why can't we just try and co-operate for now?"

"I don't know," Natasha fired back, "Maybe because the redhead over there can't control her powers?" She gave a pointed look to Jean, who tried to avoid making eye contact.

Scott immediately stood up. "Leave her the hell alone. You shouldn't be surprised after telling us we can't be trusted, it was an accident."

"One we can't afford."

"Well, what about _him?"_ Bobby gestured vaguely at Bruce. "He can't always control what he can do, and you don't seem to mind in the slightest."

"Bobby!"

He ignored the reprimand, and continued staring at Natasha. She gave him a look of shock for a moment, and she turned to Bruce, who merely shrugged at the statement, seemingly agreeing with him. "I can trust Doctor Banner to control the Hulk." Scott scoffed.

"Isn't _that_ a little hypocritical." Tony muttered.

"Something you want to add, Stark?"

"Nothing at all," he replied casually, finishing a message on his phone, before looking back up to the table. If he had a choice, and if it hadn't got this bad, he'd be having nothing to do with this fight, but he couldn't _stand_ Natasha's attitude. Wasn't she normally the rational one? "Just a comment on your obvious hypocrisy. Carry on being a prejudiced bitch, absolutely fine by me."

He knew that was the final straw as the room went silent.

He kept his eyes locked on Natasha's, not able to tell if he regretted his words as his heart rate increase dramatically, and waited for someone to speak.

"Romanoff - out. Pack your bags and be ready to leave within two hours. We'll discuss this later."

Natasha snarled viciously, but stiffly left the table, still scowling at Tony. "Пошел ты."

"Нет, спасибо." He followed her movements as she left, before sighing, turning to Fury calmly. "You were saying?"

"Any of the rest of you got problems with this?" Fury asked coldly. There was silence. "Avengers, you've got two hours, pack a bag, then be here ready to leave."

Jean and Scott both gave Tony a small smile as they left, and he was suddenly hit with another pang of regret for not seeing them for so long.

He didn't look at anyone else's face as he walked out the room.

* * *

"Hey, Pepper."

"Tony, where the hell have you been?" He could hear the tapping of Pepper's heel on the floor as she spoke, and he smiled fondly. "You haven't answered my calls for three days, what's happening?"

"I'm sorry, Pep." He ran a hand through his hair. "I spent a few days in the workshop and then got called out for a mission, and so I'm gonna be gone for another week at least -"

"Tony, what's happening?"

Her voice grew concerned.. "We're working with the X-Men," he answered finally, "And with no solid leads on the mission, we're staying at the mansion for a while so we're ready. It's just…" He drifted off.

"It's just…?"

"Xavier offered to have me back. As one of the team."

Pepper stayed silent for a moment, obviously thinking. "And what have you said?"

"Nothing," he answered quietly, "Yet. I don't know." Tony sighed. "I mean, I became Iron Man for a reason, and I can't just give that up, but I just… It'd be _home."_

"Leave it for now, Tony. I know you haven't told the others yet. Wait, until you hear what they say, then make your decision." There was a noise in the background, and a voice he recognised as Happy's. "I'm sorry, Tony, I've got to go. Keep me updated?"

"Sure. And Pepper?" He paused. "Thank you, really."

* * *

The X-Men uniform ended up being packed at the bottom of the bag.

 _(Because fuck it. The Avengers wouldn't know.)_


	6. Fall Away

_**A/N: Hiya! It's me, I'm alive! Sorry it's been so long! But I hope you enjoy this chapter!**_

* * *

The ride on the jet was silent. After Natasha's attitude earlier, no one wanted to talk to each other and risk starting up another argument. The X-Men, bar Xavier (who'd stayed behind to talk to Fury, and was making his own way back), stayed to themselves, talking in quiet murmurs to one another, and doing nothing more.

Tony chose to text Rhodey to update him on the situation. It was simple enough, but it kept him distracted and stopped him trying to talk to either teams. He couldn't deal with another fight with Natasha, not so soon, and not when the Avengers were already suspicious of him.

After another hour of awkward silence, Tony began to feel something approaching from behind. From the size of it, it was another jet, and despite not knowing who was inside - he winced, as it came mere metres from touching the wings of the Blackbird - he could tell it obviously wasn't friendly. The team stood up suddenly, hearing it's engines nearby.

The plane tilted to the left to avoid it, and he struggled to keep his balance as he moved to the controls, switching off the autopilot as he sat in front of them and tried to steady the plane. God, if this was Magneto now…

Why on earth did anyone decide they should travel in a _metal aircraft?_ Where was the logic?

If even one wing of the plane was damaged, they could spin out of control, and if it was Magneto, that would be no difficult task.

"Everyone grab hold of someth-" Ororo's shout was cut off as the plane shook violently.

Definitely Magneto. Tony grimaced slightly as he heard a slight creaking of metal, and switched the autopilot on again. The suit assembled around him seconds later, and he opened one of the doors at the side of the plane, flying out and closing it behind him before it could cause any damage to the inside.

Fuck this. _Fuck_ Magneto.

He managed to grab the bent wing, using the heat from the repulsors to begin to force it back into shape. The jet began to level out, but moments later, the wing started to pull apart, pieces of metal flying through the air behind him. Tony pushed himself to the other wing of the jet, trying to keep it at least slightly steady in the air, but Magneto seemed to still have a hold on it.

"JARVIS, I need to talk to Scott, Jean, Ororo, just any of the X-Men who know how to fly this thing." He watched as a few lines of code ran in front of his eyes, and called out as they stopped. "Can one of you hear me?"

 _"Yeah,"_ Scott near-yelled back at him, _"What the hell is happening out there?"_

Tony took a breath before answering, making sure his hold on the wing was secure. "We've lost one of the wings, I need you to try and steady it from inside. I can't hold this thing up much longer, and we'll lose control soon."

It took a minute, but the weight on his arms finally lessened, and it was easier to steady the jet. "J, switch me out with the other suit, I'm gonna try something else."

His second suit flew out after a moment, and he made sure it had a hold on the jet before letting go and bringing himself back inside and disassembling the suit, then sat back in the pilot's seat. He'd have to try and do this himself. He tried to steer the jet back so it was levelled out, but there was another sound of creaking metal, and it tipped to the side again. He fell, crushed against the wall, and suddenly heard a _crack_ as his leg began to burn. He bit down a yell, tasting blood in his mouth as he tried to move.

Scott moved to help him up once the jet levelled out again, blood beginning to cover the floor under where he was, and he had to fight off a wave of nausea as he sat back in the pilot's seat. "Shit, Tony, that doesn't look good."

"I'll be fine." He answered shortly, not able to speak more than a few words before wanting to throw up.

Grabbing in front of him blindly, he felt the controls in front of him, and attempted to think through the pain, trying to just _focus_ on what needed to be done, blocking out the noise of the engines, the people shouting wildly behind him, the pain consuming him.

And suddenly, time seemed to slow down, and he could see the jet around him, its shape, its design, and it was _all so clear_. He could feel the metal supporting the ship, and he let his powers latch onto it.

And God, it was so familiar. The feeling of control, being able to manipulate the surroundings with such ease, and all he could think of was those times back at Xavier's when he was younger, developing his powers, when he could use his powers without all the fear he felt now, when he could let go of them without being _afraid_.

He put all of it into evening the plane out.

The force of it made it feel like the world was pressing in on him, and it was all Tony could do to keep holding on. And as his head pounded, he lifted the plane further, forty more feet, fifty, sixty, and he could feel eyes on him from behind, watching as he attempted to keep the jet in control, Scott's hand steering with his to make it that little bit easier to hold on, so they could make it to the mansion which could not have been more than a few miles away, and _they had to make it_.

Tony moved his focus to the middle of the jet, just to make sure he could hold the connection long enough to get back home.

"Tony, are you-?"

"Yep."

"How far?"

"Less than ten miles, I don't think-" The jet dipped suddenly. "Jean, can you try-?"

She seemed to understand him, thank God, and took control of part of the jet. The headache lessened, and so he put more effort into keeping it steady from the controls- he couldn't let the Avengers find out now, not like this, and he was _so_ glad he wasn't in their line of sight.

"Tony, I can't stay in control of the ship with your suit there." Jean started.

He frowned slightly. "If I move now, this entire ship will go out of control."

"Tony-"

"Let go for a second, bring it back inside."

"You sure?"

"It'll only take a few seconds for you to bring it back." She looked at him worriedly. "Come on, this'll be fun. I can use it to stop my leg moving and getting worse." Jean nodded, and the jet dipped again slightly as she shifted her focus. "Goddamnit."

The suit re-entered the jet, part of it assembling itself around his leg. "How much further have we got?" He asked, not really caring who answered.

"About five miles, give or take."

"I can work with that." He grimaced, and turned to look at Bobby behind him. "You're the ice kid right?" He nodded. "I need you to do something for me, 'kay?" Bobby ran up to hear better, mouth agape slightly as he understood what Tony was doing. He stayed silent as Scott's small shake of the head. "As soon as I tell you, I need you to move out the jet, start creating a ramp for us to land on. You should be able to see the mansion from here, you need to lead us there." Bobby nodded again, moving to the door, waiting for his signal. "And can someone _please_ check to see if Magneto's gone?"

Clint moved to a window. "No movement outside. Guess the guy left once he'd tried to kill us."

"I guess that makes this easier. Bobby?" The kid took a breath, before stepping out of the jet onto a sheet of ice, his shaking hands noticeable even from where Tony was standing. They lost sight of him for a second, then the slope formed in front of them, Bobby gliding along as he created more. Tony let the wheels of the jet down, then brought it onto the ramp, able to feel the change in material. His mind responded faster than the rest of his body, and he grabbed the nose of the jet to stabilise it. "Scott?"

"Yeah?"

"Let me know if the planes not straight on the ramp. If I get off track, there's nothing we can do."

Scott nodded. "Veer more to the left, the right wing's weighing us down on one side." Tony obeyed, and black spots appeared in his vision as he tried to keep the plane from slipping on the ice. " _Tony_." He turned back to Scott, who looked at him with concern. "You blacked out for a moment. Can you keep going?"

"I'm good." He blinked a few times. _He couldn't lose focus, not now._

"Less than a mile, Tony, we're almost there." The edge of the ramp was in his sight, ice mixing with the green of the school's grounds, and he tried, but keeping the jet stable was too much, and black clouded his vision, and suddenly it became too much; as the plane moved violently onto the grass, it was lurched forward, and he was thrown forward into the controls in front of him.

Then there was darkness.

* * *

 _ **A/N: If you don't mind holding on a second before you hit that back button: As some of you might know, I also publish on AO3. Recently I started another story there called Ad Astrae, a Slytherin!Harry Potter fic. Would anyone be interested in reading it if I published it here as well?  
And would a couple of ya mind reading my other fic **_**Hindsight's Always Twenty-Twenty?** ** _It's a team Tony fic that I started like... yesterday, but it's already published here if y'all are interested. THANK YOU! I LOVE Y'ALL!_**

 ** _Anyways. Please follow/fave/review! Thanks!_**


	7. When You Can't Sleep At Night

_**A/N: Heya! I'm back! I've missed y'all!**_

The first thing he noticed was that he was in the dark.

There are two types of darkness. The first type is the darkness that keeps you safe, holds you close. It keeps you away from your demons, tints everything a shade of grey so you can focus on what truly matters.

This was the second type.

It robs you of your sense and replaces it with a paralysing fear, until you can't breathe, can't think, because it surrounds you, clinging to your skin, imprisoning you inside your mind, and after so long, it can drive you mad.

As he was brought back to reality, Tony finally managed to open his eyes, and there was the familiar feeling of his lungs pressing in on themselves, depriving him of air, his breathing becoming frantic, because _he can't be here, not now._

On any other occasion, the stars would have been impressive, beautiful. But here, with so little separating him from them, it was terrifying, the blanket of black, specked with white and blue, hidden behind silhouetted Chitauri ships, just a reminder of how small he was, how much danger they were in. How much danger they were all in.

The circle of light underneath him was drawing closer, a small glimpse of New York still visible, but he could feel his lungs burning, deprived of oxygen, his heart pounding in his ears in an attempt to get the smallest bit of air to his mind, and the light beneath him, his guide home, disappeared into nothingness, Earth saved but _this wasn't supposed to happen- he was supposed to be there too, on the other side- not trapped here so far from home- it wasn't supposed to be this way-_

"Tony!"

* * *

His arm waved out violently as he woke, missing Jean by mere inches. Tony shook himself, trying to regain his breath, not wanting to speak.

"You were muttering in your sleep. I thought it would be better to wake you than leave you be."

He swallowed, and nodded. "Yeah, thanks."

"Nightmares?"

"That obvious?" He attempted to smile, but failed.

"You're not the only one. A lot of the team..." She sighed sadly. "I've learned to recognise them."

He sat up slowly, wiping away the sweat that had beaded on his forehead, and finally took note of his surroundings. The two of them were alone in the mansion's medical bay.

So they had made it.

He looked to Jean, who was biting her lip absent-mindedly. She hadn't changed much since he'd last saw her, but she seemed… Sadder.

He suddenly remembered all that had happened before he blacked out, and he looked down to his leg, which seemed to be have a suspicious _lack_ of pain radiating from it.

"Did someone heal this? I'm sure this was broken earlier."

Jean smiled. "Yeah. Two of the kids wanted to help you out and worked together with their powers."

He raised an eyebrow. "The kids? Must be pretty strong to sort something like this." He paused. "How long have I been out for?"

Jean checked her watch. "Nearly thirteen hours." He sat up straighter. "Using your powers to that extent- It used up a lot of your energy." She paused. "You could have been unconscious for _days_ if you'd done any more."

"I'm sorry." Tony sat silently for a moment, before a thought hit him. "The Avengers, do they know?"

"No." He let out a sigh of relief, and she continued. "They were confused as to why you blacked out, but seemed to blame it all on your leg when they saw it."

"And Bobby?" He took a sip of the water left for him, throat suddenly feeling dry.

"He told the newer kids about what he saw, but Scott put in a word. They won't say anything to your team."

"Thank you."

He sensed footsteps approaching after a minute, and smiled slightly as he recognised the feeling of Xavier's wheelchair among them. Scott popped his head around the door, more relaxed when he saw Tony awake.

"The rest of the team are outside. They want to know if you're up to talking." He didn't hesitate to nod in reply, and the others entered the room almost immediately, as if already knowing his reply.

"I have to say that I'm impressed." Tony's eyes flicked to Xavier. "If you've been out of practice, it's incredible that you managed to support the whole jet with your powers." He smiled, and Tony couldn't help the warmth that spread through him seeing it. "Although… I noticed you haven't told the Avengers about them yet." It was a statement, not a question, and Tony simply shrugged in response.

"I can't trust them yet," he answered, "So can we _not_ talk about this now?"

He received a few sceptical looks, but they all took the hint and said nothing about the Avengers, Scott changing the subject to avoid an awkward silence. "Anyone got any ideas on how to deal with this whole thing?"

No one needed to ask what he meant. "Locating Raven won't do anything in helping us locate the Sentinels at the moment," Xavier started, "I could see if I can work out any details in their plan from her, but I'm not sure how much I could find."

"Unless one of the Sentinels goes online, there isn't much I can do, so that's probably best at the moment." He thought for a moment, before continuing. "I'll try and set something up to alert us if any of them _do_ activate." Tony suddenly felt someone outside nearing the door, and he looked to Xavier. "The Avengers?"

"Doctor Banner. He's alone." He nodded, and sure enough, Bruce was standing there when he opened it, looking relieved to see him awake.

"You're okay." He seemed to be saying it more for himself than for Tony. "I thought you got hurt when we crashed?"

"I did," he answered quickly, "But we're in a house full of mutants. Some of the kids helped heal it while I was out. Not that I'm ungrateful."

Bruce smiled (although hesitantly, Tony couldn't help but notice) at the X-Men, before turning back to him. "You're okay with all these guys, then?" He hastily corrected himself. "I've got no problems with any of them, but our teams don't seem to be on the best of terms at the moment."

"It's fine. We're just trying to see if there's any easier way to locate Magneto's team which is harder than you'd expect, considering the team we've got." He shrugged. "If any of the team asks," _Not bloody likely._ "Just tell them I'm fine, I'll be up soon."

"I'll see you later then?"

Tony nodded silently, and shut the door as Bruce left.

"You need to tell them, Tony. You won't be able to keep this a secret while you're here."

He didn't take note of who spoke. "I can't. You saw how Natasha reacted to just being _around_ you all. If they knew _now…."_ He drifted off.

"You'd be able to use your powers when we fight. With _out_ needing to try and hide them." Jean finished for him. The rest of the team seemed to agree with her, and glanced expectantly at him.

"No- Don't look at me like that- You can't just try and _team up_ against me." _Rude._ He sighed. "Look, I'll tell them at some point while we're here. But I can't have the team not trusting me while we're fighting. It just won't work. Just give me some time."

 _ **A/N: Okay, I'll admit, I was really unhappy writing this chapter, cause I'm really bad at fill-in-the-gaps moments of stories (why do you think shit actually happened almost every chapter?), and I don't really have much experience with dreams (I'm SO unhappy with the first bit) but I hoped you enjoyed it all the same. PLEASE FAVE OR COMMENT IT MAKES MY ENTIRE DAY**_


	8. Stomach Tied In Knots

The whispers and glances were obvious as he walked down the corridor. He couldn't help but smile back at the younger students - and a couple of older ones - who looked his way as he returned to his old room. The Professor had kept it empty for him and asked if he'd wanted it back once he'd woken, and he didn't hesitate to accept.

It had obviously been cleaned recently, probably when Xavier decided to ask the Avengers for help, knowing he'd be there, but the room still hadn't changed in his absence. Some of his designs for Stark Industries were still stacked almost a foot high on the desk, and a set of pictures of him and some of the kids littered the room, scattered on the shelves. Tony smiled. God, he'd missed this place, all the people, he'd regretted leaving for so long. He threw his bag onto the bed, and slipped on one of the packed hoodies, sighing softly. It was such a relief to be back, around old friends, back Home.

He started at a sudden knock at the door. "Mister Stark?

It took a moment for him to connect the voice to a name, and, opening the door, a smile on his face, he was greeted with black curls and a girl that wasn't taller that his waist. "Nyssa?" He tried to hide the uncertainty in his voice, but she grinned at him even if it WAS noticeable, bouncing slightly on her toes.

"Scott told me to tell you that Jean's brought food for us," she said quickly, barely pausing before asking, "Are you coming down?" The eager look on her face was enough for him, and he pulled the door shut behind him.

"Sure, kiddo." He felt a gust of wind through his hair, Nyssa glaring at him for a moment. "Well, that was rude." She started down the corridor, giggling slightly, and Tony followed behind her, raising an eyebrow. "I guess that means you've been working on your powers while I've been gone?"

She looked even happier at the question. "Storm's been teaching me how to use them," she answered, "Watch!" She stopped walking, and Tony watched her movements. Nyssa's face scrunched up momentarily, and her hands twisted towards the floor; seconds later, he could hear a breeze moving into the hallway, and her feet lifted off of the floor. She hovered, just for a few moments, about a foot in the air, before dropping back down.

Tony looked at her proudly. Last time he'd been here and seen her with the others, she could barely use her powers. "That was amazing," he told her softly, once she'd regained her breath. She blushed slightly, a small smile back on her face, before giving him a small tug on his arm to pull him back down the corridor towards the stairs.

As he entered the dining room, he couldn't help notice the few seats purposely left empty between the Avengers and everyone else, although he couldn't tell which side had left the space there. The Avengers looked at him with confused glances, seeing Nyssa, who was still holding onto his arm, and he sat in one of the empty spaces across from Jean, quickly taking one of the pieces of pizza left in the boxes scattered across the table.

"Who's this?" Bruce nodded towards Nyssa, sat next to him.

"Bruce, this is Nyssa. Nyssa, Bruce." Tony said simply, and she waved at Bruce, who did the same back uncertainly.

"You got any powers?" She seemed happy for the opportunity to show off her abilities again, and stared at the table near Bruce, where a small tornado began to form. She made it grow till it touched the glass in front of him, before letting it die down slowly. "Impressive." Nyssa beamed, before noticing the glare Natasha was giving her.

Tony followed Nyssa's gaze. "Have you got a problem, Romanoff?" he asked coldly.

"We need to talk." She stood up, gesturing to the door, and he followed, ignoring the concerned glances from the others. She shut the door behind him, and he raised his eyebrows.

"Something you don't want the others to hear?" She glared, again. "What the _hell_ is your problem at the moment?"

"What do you think?" Natasha paused. seemingly considering her next words. "They're mutants. We can't just blindly trust them."

He sighed, heavily. "Being careful to trust them doesn't mean hating a bunch of kids for abilities they didn't have any control over getting."

"That's my point. Most of them can't control their abilities properly, and they're putting us in danger."

"Bruce can't fully control the Hulk, and unless this isn't about _control,_ that isn't much different. I couldn't control where my weapons were going, they got sold to _terrorists_ , and those lives were on _me,_ 'cause I didn't pay attention enough to Stane and SI. You're still here with me, and I'm more at fault than _they_ are for what damage was done."

"That's different."

"Why?" He lowered his voice slightly, remembering the others nearby, and gestured towards the door. "Those kids in there, they didn't choose these powers, but they're doing the best they can. They could have been the ones we were fighting against now, but they chose to help us. You can't fault them for making the best of a situation like this, give them some credit." He paused, catching his breath for a moment. "God, I can understand why Magneto hates humanity so much when people act like _this_ towards them."

Natasha studied him for just a moment, then straightened her back and turned away from him. "I won't argue this with you." Ignoring the apprehensive glances from the kids who'd appeared in doorways around the corridor, she moved to the stairs and left. He gave a small smile to the few who looked his way and clenched his fist, forcing his fingers to stop shaking. There was something _wrong_ with this. It couldn't just be about trust, there was something else. He wished he knew. But getting anything from Romanoff was a challenge on a _good_ day, and it didn't seem like she'd be having any of those any time soon. He sighed, and turned back into the dining room. There was silence for barely a moment before everyone started talking again hurriedly, the Avengers avoiding his gaze.

 _Thanks. You didn't have to do that._ He recognised Jean's voice in his mind almost immediately, and smiled minutely, thinking up a response for her to read.

 _She's going to upset someone. I know half the mansion was listening in as is, and Nat's not exactly popular. I'd have been polite, you know, team unity and all, but I can't stop feeling like something's off._

 _I'm sure they appreciate it, anyway. Thank you._


	9. Ready To Go (Get Me Outta My Mind)

**A/N: Thanks to the people who've reviewed this so far! Sorry it's been so long, I've had GCSE mocks which have been a nightmare. I hope you enjoy this!**

Tony hadn't realised how much he'd missed the Mansion until he was back there, in the grounds. The bit of wood surrounding it was still undisturbed, surprisingly, and he could walk it with his eyes closed, even the trees familiar enough to him from his childhood that he could work out where he was from the few near to him.

The sun was only just rising, hues of red and gold - how fitting - shining through the leaves onto his face, and he squinted as it hit his eyes. No one else had been awake when he'd gone out, only the sounds of the wind touching the leaves and the quiet chirps of birds in the branches were audible now, and it felt _nice,_ having the world to himself for a few moments, not needing to worry about hiding, or saving the city.

Even so… he couldn't help but think. The rest of the first week they'd been at the Mansion hadn't gone much better than the first day. Natasha had barely left her room, apparently opting to finish some paperwork for SHIELD rather than deal with anyone there, and she'd only talked to Clint and Steve since the Dining Room incident, avoiding the kids and _him_ especially. Steve hadn't been much better, though Tony suspected that was more awkwardness than him hating the kids. Clint, thankfully, seemed to be enjoying hanging around with them, and had started teaching some of them archery in the grounds, while Bruce was helping out with a couple of the science lessons during the day. Still, it wouldn't be great to have them divided while they were fighting, not with who they were fighting _against._

Almost as if reading his thoughts, the sky darkened as clouds collected, blocking the sun and crackling with energy.

"Hey, J? Mind checking that out for me?"

 _"The readings are synonymous with those of the Bifrost, sir. It appears Thor is finally arriving at the Mansion."_

Well, that explained the theatrics. Tony jumped up from the log he was perched on, beginning the walk back up to the Mansion.

He still couldn't get Thor quite figured out. There were times that he appeared completely oblivious to anything _Midgardian_ , where the only one who seemed to understand him was Rogers, where his loud warrior side seemed to be the only part of his personality anyone would see. The enthusiasm he held for any of their more… violent missions wasn't well hidden, but _something_ else was.

He wasn't as naïve as he made out to be, and Tony could see the knowledge he had - after all, Thor was centuries old, heir to a throne, and Asgard was already hundreds, if not thousands of years ahead of Earth technology-wise (although he couldn't say the same social-wise). On the chance occasions he and Thor had got a chance to talk alone, he seemed a completely different person, speaking passionately of his mother's and brother's magic, of the Bifrost, of Yggdrasil, of Asgard's technology and how different Earth was to it, and they'd got on _well,_ despite what everyone said about his hatred of anything to do with magic.

Point was, Point Break was intelligent. He might not have been book-smart like Loki apparently had been, but he knew _people,_ and he knew the universe better than most, even if the way he explained it seemed different to what people were used to.

Thor confused him. But he couldn't hold that against him for a moment.

(And as long as he didn't react like Natasha did to the kids, they wouldn't have any problems.)

Tony could see him in front of the doors to the Mansion, looking mildly awkward, although not uncomfortable, as if he couldn't decide whether to enter the building or not. "Thor!" Tony waved, grinning as Thor turned to face him. "How was Asgard?"

He half-listened to a recount of a alliance made with Alfheim to last at least the next few centuries, smiling warmly as Thor promised to take him on a tour or the realms at some point, and making a note mental note to ask about Niðavellir when he had the chance ( _metalwork and magic in one - it couldn't get much better, and they'd probably give him some good ideas_ ), then quickly checked his watch. Eight o'clock.

"Do you want to head inside? Some of the kids are probably up by now, and they've been asking for a while to meet you."

"Of course!" Thor smiled enthusiastically, and Tony pushed open the door for him, leading him to the larger living room where most of the kids seemed to have gathered for the morning.

If Tony was perfectly honest, out of all the Avengers, he'd probably trust either Thor or Bruce the most with the kids - Bruce seemed to understand them better than anyone, especially the ones whose families hadn't exactly been _open_ to having a kid with powers, or those who were afraid of what they could do (and they were just the _cutest_ interactions to watch). Then there was Thor - he'd grown up with a brother who could do _magic,_ and Asgardians were technically _gods,_ so he was used to people with unusual abilities.

Tony wasn't wrong in thinking they'd get on well.

He watched as Thor retold a story of one of his off-planet battles, surrounded by faces hooked on his words, and smiled. They were _adorable._

 _"-_ And just as they started closing in, I held my hand up, and Mjölnir came up from behind them and hit them in the back of the head, and before they knew what happened, we tied them to the tree and ran."

Some of the younger kids laughed, and the older ones seemed happy enough, so he turned from the room into the corridor, making sure he wouldn't disturb them before he asked quietly, "Hey, Jarvis, how're your brothers doing?"

There was silence, for a moment, and Tony took his phone from his pocket, checking his signal quickly just to make sure there wasn't a problem with it. "J?"

 _"It would appear you didn't speak that question out loud, Sir."_

 _What?_

 _"I feel it would be best for you go and speak to Professor Xavier."_

He had to be imagining things. Fuck.

It was stress.

* * *

This wasn't good.

This _really_ wasn't good.

He took a breath, rubbing a hand over his forehead to wipe the sweat off it as he opened his door. There was a weirdly familiar burn building behind his eyes, almost like a migraine, but different in a way he couldn't quite place.

His powers were acting up, random objects were shifting noticeably on tables or floating from shelves, and for some reason there was a buzzing of voices in his head that _just wouldn't shut up._

He probably should've taken Jarvis' advice.

In his defence, it did sound completely crazy.

But Tony could feel _everything:_ the kids running through the corridors upstairs, slowing down as they reached someone he was pretty sure was Ororo; Xavier down the hall in one of the classrooms; Bruce and Hank in the basement; the tech buzzing next to them- He couldn't-

 _He couldn't breathe._

It was pressing in on him, information from all directions pushing into his head and the only comfort seemed to be the pressure of the wall against his back and his hands over his ears blocking out the sound he could, but he could feel it anyway, feel the movements of everyone and everything and the buzzing was getting louder and _wouldn't fucking leave._

 _This was too much._

 _Help, Jean, please._

He pulled his knees tighter to his chest, the movement somehow relieving some of the squeezing in his lungs as he sucked in another breath-

"Stark?"

"Tony, try to breathe with me, okay?" His hand shook as he grabbed the arm of whoever the hell was in front of front of him, managing to at least slightly ground himself where he was sitting. "Logan, find the Professor."

He could feel the movement both through the vibrations in the floor and in his head, and the buzzing only grew worse once he felt Xavier's wheelchair approaching a few moments later.

"Tony?"

He managed to lift his head for barely a second before it burned again, and he pressed his eyes back into his knees, but it was good enough to show he'd at least heard him talking.

"Tony, Logan's going to help move you to the bed. Is that alright?"

Not even bothering to try and speak this time around, Tony gave him a thumbs up in answer, and a hand moved to his back to help him off the ground. His legs shook as he stood and took a step forward, but someone holding to his waist kept him from collapsing face first on to his bed, and instead twisted him around to lie on his side.

He was pretty sure that someone was speaking quietly somewhere off to the side, though he couldn't discern a word of it. The buzzing in his head had only gotten worse when the Professor had entered his bedroom, and, god, he just wanted it to _stop._

"-going to try something."

Cold hands pressed to either side of his head, and he shivered slightly in weak protest, but then-

It was _quiet._

He gave himself a second to actually breathe, before wiping his face on the pillow under his head and sitting up slowly, three pairs of eyes watching Tony in concern as he spoke softly, voice hoarse,

"I don't suppose any of you can explain what the _fuck_ that just was?"

 **A/N Thanks for reading! Please fave/follow/review if you enjoyed!**


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